NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
5-Hour Energy 400 Benefiting Special Operations Warrior Foundation
Kansas Speedway Distance: 400.5 miles (267 laps)
Saturday, May 10 7:30 p.m. (ET) TV: FOX, 7 p.m. (ET) Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series SFP 250
Kansas Speedway Distance: 250 miles (167 laps)
The Date: Friday, May 9 8:30 p.m. (ET) TV: FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. (ET)
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
NASCAR Nationwide Series Next Race: Get To Know Newton 250
Iowa Speedway Distance: 218.75 miles (250 laps)
Sunday, May 18 2 p.m. (ET) TV: ESPN, 1:30 p.m. (ET) Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
If previous stats are any good after all the changes this year to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship, here are the odds on favorites to win: Jimmie Johnson 118.9; Matt Kenseth 109.6; Greg Biffle 106.9; Jeff Gordon 99.6; Tony Stewart 97.5. My picks are points leader Jeff Gordon & Mr. 6 time Jimmie Johnson but with winning being so important and the risks teams will take to win, no one can say for sure.
Kansas is Clint Bowyer’s home track and on Monday, via Twitter, he announced that he and his wife Lorra were expecting their first child. That same day, Michael Waltrip Racing announced that Bowyer signed a multi-year contract extension. This will be an important race for as this is his main sponsor is also the race sponsor 5-hour ENERGY 400.
Potential Rookie Contenders: Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon, who currently sit 1-2 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings. The two are separated by only 18 points (122-104).
Chase Elliott, Elliott Sadler and Regan Smith have wins and are only separated by three points in the standings and each have an average finishing position in the top 10.
Chase Elliott, the series point’s leader and Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader, is already being deemed the sport’s next “face” by fans and media alike – and with good reason. He is the youngest driver in series history to lead the standings and the first rookie to win back-to-back races (Texas, Darlington).
The son of NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Bill Elliott has posted seven top 10s in nine races this season. His 7.4 average finishing position in the first nine races of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career is the eighth best in series history. He also has a series leading season-to-date Driver Rating of 109.1.
Just outside of Elliott’s quarter panel sits veteran Elliott Sadler, is trailing just one point back in the standings. Sadler’s win at Talladega not only ended a 54-race winless streak dating back to Aug. 4, 2012 (Iowa), but also revived his championship form.
Sadler has posted four top fives and seven top 10s in the first nine events. But he has finished runner-up in the standings twice in the last three years; 2014 could be the season he gets over the hump.
Regan Smith, currently third in the standings, three points back from his JR Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. Smith opened the season in dramatic fashion, winning at Daytona and scoring a series-leading nine top 10 finishes. Smith led the standings for the first five races of the season and his season-to-date Driver Rating is 98.9.
Expect to see these 3 up front each week; none have finished outside the top 20 so far this season.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series after racing only twice so far this season, the 2014 schedule will get hectic over the next couple of weeks. For the first time this season, the series will be in action in back-to-back weekends with the SFP 250 this Friday night at Kansas Speedway and next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
For Blaney, it will be a full weekend in Kansas as the 20-year-old driver will race in both Friday night’s SFP 250 and Saturday night’s 5-hour ENERGY 400. It would be the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut for Blaney, who will drive the No. 12 Ford for Team Penske on Saturday.
The race also could provide an opportunity for Blaney to compete against his father Dave, which would make them the first father/son duo to compete in in the same NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event since Bobby Hamilton Sr. and Jr. raced at Atlanta on October 30, 2005. Both Blaneys raced against one another last season in the historic truck race at Eldora Speedway.
Blaney, who already has two truck series and one NASCAR Nationwide Series wins on his resume, will be joining teammates Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano in the field. Before that happens, Blaney will jump in his truck owned by Keselowski for Friday’s race. Blaney enters this weekend in fourth, four points behind leaders Timothy Peters and Johnny Sauter.
Blaney is also scheduled to make a second Cup series start at Talladega Superspeedway in the fall, in another double-duty effort during the Camping World Truck- Sprint Cup weekend.
The third-generation driver has also made four starts in the NNS so far this season, with three top-10 showings highlighted by a fourth-place finish at Bristol in March.
On Monday, NASCAR announced that Camping World renewed for seven years to remain as series entitlement sponsor through the 2022 season. The outdoor company has sponsored the series since 2009.
Austin Dillon, the 2011 series champion will make his first truck start since last year at Chicagoland this weekend for NTS Motorsports. Dillon won last year in the series at Eldora Speedway.
Tayler Malsam returns to the series this weekend in Kansas driving for Turner Scott Motorsports. Malsam debuted in the series in 2008 and competed full-time in 2009.
Joey Coulter has signed Vertx, a tactical and outdoor apparel brand, as primary sponsor for the Kansas race and will also be an associate sponsor for GMS Racing on all GMS entries in the series.
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series.html